"All My Children"...Together Again!

Following is my journal post from September 23, 2011…

Today marked the end of an era for me - the final episode of "All My Children". I have been a loyal fan for almost 35 years and today I had to say good-bye to my friends. People I have come to know as well as friends and family in my life: Erica, Kendall, Jackson, Tad, Dixie, Bianca, JR, Adam, Brooke, Ryan, Greenlee, Angie, Jesse, Palmer, Daisy, Myrtl, Phoebe, Jenny, Greg, Opal, Ruth, Dr. Joe, Jake, Amanda, Natalie, Jeremy, Dmitri, Phil, Tom, Heather, Janet, Stuart, Liza...the list goes on. I've watched them fall in love, fall out of love, get married, get divorced, have babies, be kidnapped, survive plane crashes, deal with addiction, be on trial for murder, and come back from the dead more than once. I feel no shame in saying that I've been addicted to their stories and have watched them whenever I had the opportunity. And now, they are gone. The final scene: As Erica cried out to her love, Jackson "don't leave me - what will happen to me?". And Jackson replied "frankly, Erica, I don't give a damn" (Hello - Gone With The Wind!) It was a perfect ending and I'm not going to lie, I cried. Good bye "All My Children".

Fast Forward To Today, April 25, 2013…

But wait, just like any good soap opera, all is not lost and good-bye is never good-bye! I learned recently that I will once again be able to visit my friends starting next week via online web broadcasting! “All My Children” (and “One Live To Live”) will return in 30-minute daily installments that can be accessed via Hulu. Honestly, for me, it’s like Christmas in April!

I first began watching “AMC” when I was very little, probably early grade school. One of the benefits of having older sisters was experiencing the world at times based on their current interests, and one summer day, I sat down with my sister to watch my first soap opera. Of course, I was not naïve to the allure of the soaps as my mother had been a dedicated fan to “As The World Turns” for as long as I could remember. When her “show” came on, it was certain that I would be enjoying an egg salad sandwich while I watched “Captain Kangaroo” in another room. From that first viewing in the early 1970’s until my last viewing in 2011, I would catch up with my show as often as I could. Soaps are a unique genre – they move quickly but at the same time, nothing ever seems to change. They are about fantasy, drama, romance, and lives that (thankfully) none of us will ever experience. They are purely escapist and I’m thrilled that I’ll once again be able to watch my show…familiar friends but in a new way.

The world was very different in the early 1970’s. We were drawn to different stories and had very different ways of sharing them. I know many of us lament the loss of the good old days when a trip to the mailbox might mean a letter from a friend or a beautiful invitation to a celebration. We now receive those stories electronically in many cases and we mourn the loss of holding them in our hand, displaying them on our frig, or saving them in a keepsake box.  Back in the 70’s, I recorded my important moments in a small pink diary with its own lock and key. My memories and thoughts were held secretly and were meant only for me. Today, I tell my stories through my online photo gallery, facebook updates, and this blog, and though I have control over how much I share, the truth is I’m willing to share myself more publicly in the digital world. I’ve evolved with our culture and with technology. In much the same way, soap operas are now evolving as well. Originally started as radio programs, these “stories” then became the lunchtime companions of homemakers, then the on-demand cable replays for those who were working outside the home during the day, and now, to the online world for anytime access. They will be quicker, probably more visual and possibly even more interactive. But while the format will be different, I hope that they will retain all that I loved – the campy, romantic, completely escapist drama that makes me glad to live in my life rather than theirs in Pine Valley.

The world evolves around us and we try to change along with it. Our stories evolve as well. The “drama” of today might give us a laugh next week. The characters around us change – moving in and out of our stories as we move in and out of theirs. Just like my friends on “AMC”, we breathe, we laugh, we cry, we celebrate, we grieve, we worry, we anticipate, we plan, we apologize, we grow, we love.  Be IN your moments today because, unlike my friends at "AMC", we don't get a dress rehearsal.  Enjoy the moment!

I've Been "Pining" For Minnesota...

I've been doing a lot of "pining" lately. As I shared with you several weeks ago, Minneapolis St Paul magazine is hosting a contest for a beautiful hotel/resort giveaway and in order to enter, you were required to post pictures of favorite Minnesota places to hike, bike or drive on Pinterest. Though I would love to win the contest of course, what first started as a quick contest entry quickly became a larger project of love. Initially I planned to blog about each place and then post the pictures to Pinterest but I soon realized that I have too many images of Minnesota to blog about each one so I just began pining, and pining, and pining.

This is what I learned... There are literally hundreds of places and thousands of moments to love in Minnesota. Hiking, biking and driving are only a few on the list. You can add to that swimming, boating, attending festivals, enjoying a night on the city, shopping, snowmobiling, skiing, skating, making snowmen, enjoying Spring blooms, savoring Fall colors, watching another beautiful sunset, and just "being" in the moment. After going through just a few files of images from the last couple years, I created a very personal Pinterest page that is a reminder to me of all the reasons it is great to live in Minnesota. If you would like to view this page and its images, I invite you to do so at...Theresa Link MN Images.

Whether I win the contest or not, the truth is I'm taking away a prize...a reminder that I am so fortunate to live in a place that I love so much. My hope for you is that you too live in a place that you love...a place that allows you to always "be" in the moment.

Keep The Shiny Side Up...

It's still quite early on a Saturday morning but I've been up for hours. I crawled out of bed as the sun rose and went to my parents house to help them prepare for another road trip. They, along with my sister Sue, are  making a journey out West for a Memorial service for my Uncle Bill who passed away unexpectedly this week. It is a journey with a sad purpose but at the same time, they are looking forward to the travel and to the final destination where they will visit with family not seen in many years. I am jealous beyond words to not be accompanying them on this trip but my sister has sworn to provide regular updates. I'm not so sure - they've been gone almost 30 minutes and I haven't heard from them yet...but I'll hold off on further judgement.

Over the past 50 years, my parents have made this particular road trip many times to visit with Dad's brothers and their families in Idaho. My Dad likely knows the road as well as any roads in our own town and Mom knows all the landmarks along the way. They cover many miles each day and as they have always done in all their travels, they savor each mile along the way. My sister told me that something one of them said made her think that maybe they thought this would be their last trip west. Not because they won't be able to travel but because calendars fill, lives are busy, and months and years go by quickly. I'm not so sure - I think they'll be making this journey yet again and I hope the next time, that I'll be able to join them.

Anyway, it got me thinking this week about "last times". There are all kinds of last times - expected and unexpected, sad and joyful. Some of the best last times are the ones that you expect and that you plan for or dream about. The last time you make your final car payment or your last college tuition payment, that's a pretty good last time. The last time you have to do a job that you hate, or see a person who has hurt you - those are pretty good last times. However, in most cases, we don't know when it's the last time. 

Years ago, when Mollie was no longer a little girl anymore, I wrote something in my journals to her about last times. I told her that it was a blessing that we didn't always know when the last time was happening. If I had known that it would be the last bottle I'd ever feed her, the last time she would crawl on my lap, or the last time she would ask me to pick her up in my arms, the truth is that I would have never let go. The thought of any of those moments never happening again, would be so devastating at the time which is why we are blessed that we can live our lives, knowing some moments are the last but yet continuing our journey.

When we lose someone, we think about the last time we saw them or spoke to them or their last moments and often times, we may have regrets about something we said or didn't say, did or didn't do. I think that's only natural for us to look back on things that way. We're told to "live every moment like it's your last" which is great if you can do it - but in reality, life sometimes fills our days and our moments with the "business" of living as opposed to the actual living itself. If we're lucky, we have opportunities to celebrate life with those we love and in those moments, we do live each moment like it's our last. The trick might be carrying that same thought over to the little moments - the bottle feedings, the hugs, the knowing glance across the room from the one you love about a shared joke - and not clinging to it as your last, but instead savoring it as though it could be the last time.

So, my parents and my sister begin their journey. My Dad always says when I'm taking a road trip..."Keep the shiny side up".  So that's what I will wish them now. Keep the shiny side up and enjoy all the moments.

Of All The Places In The World...

I've been very fortunate that in my lifetime, I've had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world. I've visiting much of the United States but also traveled through Europe, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, French Polynesia - amazing places each with their own unique beauty. However, there is one place in the world that holds very special charm in my mind and a rugged splendor that is unmatched in any other location and that is Grand Marais, MN. I've enjoyed many moments visiting this little town along the North Shore - strolling through town, exploring the gunflint trail, sitting beside Lake Superior. It is one of my favorite places on earth...

Some Moments Are Secrets...And Only Happen Once

Several years ago, I traveled to Palisade, Minnesota to spend some time at the Long Lake Conservation Center. I had not visited this area of Minnesota before and was amazed by what I found there. The Center itself was lovely and filled with numerous hikes and paths leading to scenic spots around the lake. But there was an unexpected and mostly undiscovered area there - very much like a secret garden. Hidden deep within the woods was a bog and if ever there could be a place on earth where fairies might live, this would be the place. The spongey green earth was lush with life and the light had a spiritual, magical quality.

The Long Lake Woods...

One of the many trail markers...

A trail marker for the bog walk...but don't be fooled, this path won't lead you to the true hidden bog. That special place is a secret...

Color and light like no other place in the world...

A place for fairies to live?

This little mushroom standing up to the tallest trees...

I'd never been in such a place before and may never be again - some moments only happen once in a lifetime.



Reclaiming Lost Moments

Recently, I was going through a box of old photos – some of them duplicates, some of them discards that didn’t make it into the family albums for one reason or another. I ran across a picture of Mollie that I had long ago forgotten about.

When your toddler hands you a bunch of ANYTHING that they hand picked and says “these flowers are for you, mom”, trust me, they are no longer weeds.

In the photo , she is very little – maybe only 3 or 4 years old. We had gone to a friend’s party and there were no other little children there for Mollie to play with. But she has always been very capable of entertaining herself so she wandered into their backyard and began to pick “flowers”. I think they were actually weeds – the ones with the tiny little white blooms on top – but when your toddler hands you a bunch of ANYTHING that they hand picked and says “these flowers are for you, mom”, trust me, they are no longer weeds. Anyway, as she crouched in the grass picking flowers, she was so focused on the moment.  It was one of those moments that on the surface, doesn’t really mean anything but for some reason, it stays with you and it becomes meaningful. 

Fortunately I had my camera with me that day so I snapped a quick picture of the moment.  This was pre-digital camera era and when I had my film developed, I was disappointed that the photo didn’t really capture that moment in the way that I remembered.  It was a bit out of focus, Mollie was sort of a tiny element right in the center of the photo (bad composition), and due to a summer haze that day, the color was sort of… blah. It was a very different moment in my mind than it was in the photo I held in my hand. Through the years, I held on to it for sentimental reasons but at the time, I wished  it could be better.

And there it was...almost 20 years later...my memory.

When I rediscovered the photo the other day, I realized that with photo editing software and apps available now, maybe I could revisit that photograph and coax it back to the image that I held in my mind’s eye. So I snapped a photo of the photo with my iPhone and applied some simple editing with various apps. I cropped the image so Mollie was no longer sitting in the center and she became a larger point of focus. I bumped up the saturation so that the haze wasn’t as evident - making the greens of the grass more vivid. I applied vignetting around the edges – soft focus and darker edges – that again, helped to make Mollie the focus of the image. And…there it was…almost 20 years later…my memory.

For me, the beauty of photography has always been the ability to capture a single moment in time. You can then hold that moment in your hand and as your memory fades, just a glance at that photo will transport you back. When we all took pictures with film, it was a hit or miss game for many. We held the moments in our minds, and were often times disappointed with the results captured with our camera. Do you have a box of old photos laying around? Some of those disappointments that didn’t really capture the moment in the way you hoped? If so, set aside an hour or two to dig through and maybe you will rediscover some lost moments. Or better yet, maybe you will be able, through modern technology, to reclaim some moments that you thought had been lost forever.

A Taste of Minnesota...

There are many things that inspire in me in life but today two of them have come together and I hope that you'll indulge me in the next few weeks by allowing me to feed my passion for them both. As many of you who follow my blog might know, I try to write every week or so and share random thoughts on life and enjoying the moments that make our lives full. However, for the immediate future, I'm going to post a bit more frequently...and yet, I will actually be posting fewer random thoughts...and instead be focusing on some of the images that inspire me...and maybe you too.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine is hosting a contest for a 3 day giveaway at one of Minnesota's most beautiful lakeside resorts. In order to win, entrants must post photos on Pinterest (one of my first sources of inspiration) of places in Minnesota where they love to hike, bike, drive (or in my view...just "be in the moment" (my second source of inspiration.) While I'd be happy to win the contest, that isn't why I'm going to share these photos with you.

Born and raised in Minnesota, I still live here by choice. I have traveled all over the world and though there are places I long to return for a visit and places I still yearn to see, I know in my heart that there is no other place in this world that I could ever call home other than Minnesota. Over the years, I've enjoyed exploring my home state - attempting to capture its spirit with my camera - and attempting to live in its spirit by enjoying each moment. So what will follow in my the coming weeks are a sampling of some of the Minnesota moments that I've captured over the years. Maybe you have been to some of these places or maybe these images will entice you to visit. Whatever the case, I  hope you will enjoy a peek into my Minnesota inspirations.

A winter morning in Northern Minnesota. The snow had fallen hard the night before and the trees were bravely holding their burden. I took a walk in the woods. There was not a sound anywhere. Everywhere your eye fell was covered with snow. It was astoundingly beautiful.

Minnesotans have a way of making the best of the weather we are faced with (or taking advantage of the weather we are faced with) depending on your viewpoint. These are kite boarders on Lake Mille Lacs.

Grand Marais might be one of the most beautiful spots in MN. This photo was actually taken in Two Harbors as you travel up the North Shore Drive from Duluth to Grand Marais. There is beauty at every turn.

Sometimes "the spirit" is all around you and you don't even realize it.

This photo was taken on the Gunflint trail which at the time was recovering from the previous year's forest fires. I liked the image because of the burnt wood surrounded by the promise of new life.

Just a few of my Minnesota memories and I'll be sharing more in the days ahead. Take a moment, grab a cup of coffee (or glass of wine in my case!), and just enjoy the beauty that surrounds each of us.